


Love is Strange

by badgerpride89



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Aromantic Caduceus Clay, Asexual Caduceus Clay, Gen, Minor Fjord/Jester Lavorre, background Caduceus Clay/Fjord, canon adjecent, fjord is caddy's most important person, i have said it before, so we use what we have, we just don't have tags for that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-13 19:42:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29781153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badgerpride89/pseuds/badgerpride89
Summary: Team Cleric spends a night together painting nails and talking relationships.
Relationships: Caduceus Clay & Jester Lavorre
Comments: 3
Kudos: 50





	Love is Strange

“Hmm, let’s see,” Jester said as she concentrated on Caduceus’ hand in front of her. Her fire crackled a merry red and gold behind them, throwing highlights on the green and pink base she’d already placed on his stubby nails. Caduceus sorted through the various yellow polish bottles with his free hand, searching for one which had the right amount of shimmer, while he burrowed into the blanket Jester had wrapped around his shoulders. Even safe and warm in the tower, the merest thought of the astral city could send him into full body shivers. Some nights, he didn’t think he would ever be completely warm again. Still, better than the alternative, he supposed, glancing at the lines which were beginning to carve themselves under Jester’s eyes. Her room had been above his the last several nights; he knew what the city did when it got its claws into a person.

And...he didn’t want to be alone either. 

“Which ones tonight? I think I could paint some really pretty cupcakes,” she asked.

Caduceus blinked and grabbed the right bottle. “Let me try the stars on yours first. Real ones, not the little dots.”

Jester’s lips quirked in delight. “Sure, Caduceus, just let me get a smock first,” she teased but rose nonetheless.

Caduceus snorted in amusement. “I spilled it _once_.”

Jester just giggled.

Neither of them pointed out the paint would be gone come morning when they stepped back into the real world.

She returned with her painting apron tied carefully over her dress, her sleeves rolled up and out of the line of fire. She presented her hand regally and pronounced, “Your canvas.”

Caduceus gently took her hand and out of an old, almost forgotten instinct, started with her last finger. Jester craned her neck to get a better look at his work. They were simple stars, the four lines of a compass rose crossing at the middle, but they were neat and sure. They shimmered just right in the light, the shade perfectly complimenting her horn jewelry. 

“You’ve gotten so much better at this, Caduceus,” she praised as he moved on to her ring finger.

“Why, thank you. I’m out of practice, I’m glad it’s coming back to me.”

Jester smiled. “Did you used to paint Clarabelle’s nails?”

“Oh, no, she couldn’t sit still long enough, at least back then.” They let the lost years hang between them. “I used to do Calliope’s. And Corrin’s. And Colton when he wasn’t being an ass.”

“You must have been an artist, Caduceus.”

“I did okay, yeah.”

“Who did yours?”

“Mom. She taught me the names of flowers with it. Dad did hers.”

“My momma taught me, too. I used to paint her nails before her big performances.”

“That must’ve been special.”

Jester nodded. “It was. I had her all to myself. And I got really good at it, I practiced for hours. People used to ask her who made her nails all fancy and she’d just laugh and say that a lady never reveals her beauty secrets.”

Her voice was too weighty by the end of her story. Caduceus said nothing; he just smiled softly at her and carried on with her middle finger.

Jester sighed. Then a mischievous glint entered her eyes. “Do you think Beau and Yasha have started making out yet?”

Caduceus counted Jester’s fingers lucky that he was in the middle of dipping the brush into the bottle. He managed not to spill it. Barely.

“I don’t know?” he started.

Jester just barreled right over him. “I mean, I know it’s their first date and all and they’re so cute together and awkward but like, Beau’s slept with like a lot of people on the first date and Yasha was married so I mean, I guess I could see both but I can’t decide which one’s better. They’ve wanted to kiss each other for so long now and it really isn’t fair they haven’t been able to but also, like, which one of them is going to ask or start it, you know?”

Caduceus chuckled. "I have no idea and I am quite happy not knowing until tomorrow."

Jester cocked her head. "How will you know? Like, they can't get any more weird or awkward around each other."

"It's a gift," Caduceus said dryly as he finished her thumb and reached for her other hand.

"Maybe they'll be more settled around each other,” Jester mused, “now that they’ve gotten the hard part out of the way.”

“The hard part?” Caduceus asked, completely lost. Starting or changing relationships was easy in his experience, it was maintaining them where things got tricky.

She looked at him indulgently but with a kind smile. “When you don’t know how the other person feels and you’re afraid of losing what you have to pursue what you want, it can get rough.”

He hadn’t thought of it like that before. He nodded, chewing over the statement as he finished her thumb. 

As he reached for her other hand, a soft knock rapped at her door. She tensed a little and skittered to the door. She only opened it a crack but Caduceus could see a dark beard and green skin anyway. And from her posture, shoulders too far back, he knew he shouldn’t eavesdrop. 

He heard snippets anyway.

“-to talk about it and-”

“-with Caduceus, Fjord-”

Ah. Well. That put a few things into context. He signaled one of the cats and quietly asked for more hot cocoa and another round of black moss and blueberry cupcakes. 

“-all right? Do you-”

“We’re fine. I'll see you before breakfast?"

"It's a date. Night, Jester."

"Good night, Fjord."

She closed the door just as Mixie returned with their sweets. She sighed and plopped onto the floor beside Caduceus, completely ignoring the cupcakes. 

Oh, dear.

"You ready to do mine?" Caduceus asked in lieu of saying anything else.

Jester brightened slightly to have something to do. She grabbed a purple bottle and inspected his fingers once more. A few seconds passed while Caduceus drank his cocoa. 

"Fjord is wonderful," she said.

"He is," Caduceus agreed.

She looked at him with a mischievous grin. "Are you going to give me the shovel talk, now that he is your family?"

"Do you want me to? I've been informed I drove Colton's partner away last time I did."

Jester smacked him playfully. "No way."

"That's what he said when he told us they broke up. Shame, too, I liked that tabaxi."

"You didn't," she gasped.

"Apparently I did. They could do better than my brother anyway."

Jester laughed and shook her head. Her hands remained steady throughout. She quieted for a moment, concentrating on a purple swirl of frosting. 

"I just...I mean, it's great and Fjord is wonderful but like, I thought I would care more about the other stuff, you know? Like kissing and snuggling and like that sort of thing."

"No, I really do not know," Caduceus said mildly, then, at her look, added, "I never started caring about any of that. It isn't important to me like taking care of people is."

"It's important to Fjord."

"And you?"

Jester bit her lip before replying. "I'm glad he cares about me and that everyone knows now, that we're together, but like, kissing isn't feelings, Caduceus, and he seems to think it is?"

Caduceus' eyes widened as he tried to make sense of her statement. "Um..."

"My mom and all the others at the Chateau kiss and have sex with people they don't care about. My dad, too. It doesn't, like, have to mean anything and I know Fjord means something when he does it, it's just...I dunno, I don't think I am making any sense," she said exasperatedly as she aggressively added a candle to the cupcake on his middle finger.

"You make perfect sense to me," Caduceus told her, "You prefer other displays of affection."

"Yes, thank you, gosh, you said that way better than I did."

"I've just had more practice saying it," he replied and waited for her to continue.

"It's just like, I don't want to mess this up because like, I don't just walk up and kiss him randomly or hug him or whatever, you know? But, like, Avantika just _went_ there with Fjord and he went with her so quickly-"

"-Do you think Fjord had actual feelings for Avantika?"

Jester scowled. Well, that answered that question. Caduceus placed his free hand on her knee. "You didn't see him come back to our room that night," he said lowly, "Trust me, there were no real feelings beyond confusion and curiosity."

Jester nodded, her shoulders sagged slightly. 

"He knows how you show you care," he reassured her, a teasing smile growing on his lips, "Why do you think he reacted like he did when you used Heal on him?" 

Jester snorted, smiling in return. "Thanks, Caduceus."

"Of course."

They sat in silence as Jester completed the tea cup on Caduceus' thumb. "So, about that prank?" she asked too casually.

Caduceus smirked. "Well, if you're offering."

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, everyone. Feel free to leave comments below, I love reading them!


End file.
